In numbers: The shocking decline of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

BORDER GAVASKAR TROPHY TEST: DEC 29 NRMA Insurance Boxing Day Test - Source: Getty
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have underwhelmed in this series.

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Co. crumbled to an embarrassing 184-run defeat to Australia in the fourth Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday, December 30. Set a tricky target of 339, the visitors crumbled for 155 to hand the Aussies a 2-1 series lead.

India will need to win the final Test in Sydney to level the series and retain any hope of qualifying for the World Test Championship Final in the summer of 2025. While South Africa and Australia seem destined to get there at the moment, India face a Herculean task to reach a third straight WTC final.

India seemed well-placed to draw the recently concluded Test in Melbourne, but their batters let them down once again, and it led to a domino effect that spread through the entire side. Senior pros Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma - were shoddy with the bat and failed to make any noteworthy contribution.

Virat Kohli, who seemed set tot a good series following a fine century in the first Test in Perth, fell prey to his indiscipline to balls pitched outside off stump in every innings after that. Sharma, who joined the team late owing to the birth of his second child, hasn't got going in the series and has looked horribly out of sorts.

Kohli's scores read 7, 11, 3, 36 and 5 in the five innings post his 100* in Perth, while Sharma's are even more painful to the eye: 3, 6, 10, 3 and 9. The fact that the India captain, widely rated to be one of the best batters in overseas conditions, has reached double digits just once this series. That'si worrying beyond measure, and one that will surely alarm the management.

Virat Kohli averages 27 this series while Rohit Sharma averages a lowly 6.20, having scored just 31. While it's fair to feel sorry for two behemoths who have given Indian cricket fans some wonderful memories over the years, it's also important to analyse what went wrong and how they failed to live up to expectations in this series.


Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have struggled with various issues in this series

For Virat Kohli, the answer is clear as daylight: indiscipline. He has regularly got out chasing balls outside the off stump and nicking them behind to the wicketkeeper or slip cordon.

For a man known to be mentally tougher than many of his opponents on the international stage, it's extremely sad to note that he has repeatedly made the same mistake in this series.

Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, batting at number six in the second and third Tests, seemed out of place with his minimal footwork and ill at ease at the ball going away as at the one nipping back in. In Melbourne, Sharma tried to be aggressive when there was no need to, and lost his wicket without the Aussies trying too hard in either innings.

Both batters, who are renowned to be the best in the business in the world, should be disappointed with their numbers over the last few years. Kohli will be horrified to note that he has scored just 2,046 runs in the last six years, while Rohit Sharma has bagged just 90, 545 and 620 runs in the last three years.

Virat Kohli, once slated to be among the best Test batters in the world, seems far away from getting to 10,000 Test runs and could end up short of the milestone (he has 9,207 runs currently). Rohit Sharma (4301), meanwhile, could finish with less than 5,000 runs in his Test career.

Before this century in Perth, Virat Kohli had just one fifty-plus score in six innings (70 vs New Zealand in Bengaluru), while for Sharma, the figures look far too grim. Sharmahas just one fifty-plus score in his last 12 innings, with the exception being the 52 he scored against the Kiwis in the Bengaluru Test that India lost by eight wickets.

Both players have consistently shown why they are among the best in the business, although one has to argue that the logic applies more to Kohli than Sharma, who's admittedly a better white-ball cricketer than a red-ball one. Kohli will be worried by his lack of consistency in this series and hope that he turns things around in Sydney.

Rohit Sharma, for his part, has a lot of questions to ask of himself after he returns home from this tour. He will look to put up a respectable couple of scores in the fifth Test and lead India to an unlikely victory. With his critics baying for blood, there can be no better way for him to silence them than by answering with his bat.

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Edited by Bhargav
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